After staying up late my first night in Melbourne to sing such lyrical gold as “sha-la-la-la-la-la, ain’t that sad, ain’t it shame, too bad, you gonna miss the girl” with I-Hua, and eating all the chocolate from my bed as well as much of I-Hua’s bag of dried mango from Costco, I woke up bright and early for a breakfast rendezvous with another supercool-awesometastic Melbourne blogger I’d yet to meet, Adrian.

On the way, I-Hua excitedly pointed out a church that strives to strike a balance between amusing-the-young’uns and not-seeming-too-try-hard. OMG!

Before long we arrived at Duchess of Spotswood, and I found myself enveloped in a hug from the buoyantly-joyful and cheers-you-up-just-to-be-around-him Adrian. I was initially disappointed that Adrian wasn’t wearing his cat Creamy on his head as I’d so politely requested, but all was forgiven when he handed me the largest block of Kit Kat I’ve ever seen. Thank you Adrian!

I do love it when people support my obsession with both chocolate and chocolate excess.

At Duchess, I experienced for the first time the bliss that is Melbourne’s dedication to amazing coffee, as shown through its tendency to offer coffee-beans-of-the-day for a slight price increase. When offered the option of paying 80c more for the Honduras blend, known for notes of hazelnut and candy, we couldn’t say no. My soy latté (second photo) was sublime and well worth the expense. (Hang the expense!)

I shan’t say which of us added three sugars to his-or-her coffee and then proclaimed that the Honduras blend did indeed taste like candy (oh how we laughed!), but I will say that I don’t add sugar to my coffee and that Adrian will henceforth be known as my Sugar Twin.

Amidst rapid-fire chatter about blogging and Christmas and food and Melbourne’s crazy recent storms and sunburn and more, my Sugar Twin dove into his sourdough with raspberry jam then had the audacity to tweet that I was having dessert for breakfast.

Well, actually, make that “veracity” not “audacity”, because…

What can I say? The heart wants what the heart wants, and the heart wanted a Jam Roly Poly from the second it walked in the door and saw this sugar-sparkling jam-no-cream sponge creation twinkling from the cake display case.

Gosh, it was lovely. Light (and ever-so-slightly-springy) in texture with a subtle flavour from what I’m guessing might have been custard powder, a fresh, true, and almost-tart raspberry jam centre, and a glittering sugar coating, this Jam Roly Poly was the perfect kick-start to a sunny Saturday in Melbourne.

‘Course, there was the moment when a bug landed on the cake and I unthinkingly blew it and thereby sugar all over the table and Adrian, but we shan’t talk about that.

I-Hua ordered the Prince of Wales, comprised of cured salmon, avocado puree, poached eggs, and grilled potato bread, which is what I would’ve ordered had not my indefatigable sweet tooth interfered.

On the other side of the table, I-Hua’s fellow had the Idle Tongues, with ox tongue, poached duck egg, fried zucchini flower and toast.

It was a most gorgeous and fun and sparkling and sweet and lovely and laughter-filled start to my second day in Melbourne. Adrian, please let’s do this again soon. With Cookie and Creamy along for me to cuddle too, please?

Gah, deleted my first attempt at commenting because it was becoming redonkulously long and a little too ‘me, me, me’ ‘I, I, I’ for my liking (surely that’s what I have my own blog for! 🙂 ).
Good on you for getting what you wanted for breakfast instead of what might be considered a ‘should have’ for breakfast.
You certainly popped into Melbourne on the right few days – while there was actually sun, blue sky and warmth (you know, like there’s supposed to be in summer!).

Please, please rest assured that I love “you, you, you” comments, so next time definitely don’t delete it! Chatting in the comments here is one of the best parts of blogging 🙂

Teehee, I tend to pull out my “I am sociologist and mealtimes are just social constructions” card when it suits me 😉 Oh gosh, I was so lucky with the weather! It’s been horrible these past few days, I hear.

Aw shucks, I will try to be more self-centred next time I comment then 🙂

In brief I (1) noted that I had just that morning bought a slice of raspberry cheesecake from Plantation for breakfast and (2) got just a little bit too excited by the fact that Creamy is a British Shorthair.

P.S. Emma, cafe eggs normally end up like that using a nifty albeit tricky method that involves almost boiling water, vinegar, creating a mini tornado in the pot and maintaining said tornado while cracking and cooking the egg. On closer inspection though the eggs in question do look very moulded …

I love the pic of the church but just can’t share your excitement about the Duchess of Spotswood. I liked it but the ploughman’s lunch was style over substance and it was too crowded for a little kiddie who just wanted to stretch her legs. Seems I should have just gone straight for dessert

It was super lovely! The camera is generally going well; I’m very grateful to be able to take middle-distance shots again! It does well in good light, though one day I do want to upgrade and take proper lessons 🙂

You definitely had the best breakfast 🙂 It can be hard to find ‘real’ jam sponge rolls these days, especially ones without cream, so I think your heart’s request was entirely justified!

Also, Melbourne coffee is one of the things I most love about Melbourne. The taste, and the options, and the cafes in which it is served…and even though I concur on hanging the expense for such important matters as coffee, the fact that it is all of those things *and* cheaper than in Perth is like the icing sugar on your sponge roll.

Aww, love the group photo at the end! What a lovely meal you guys had, been dying to go to Duchess but it’s so far away! And indeed the heart wants, what the heart wants, mine made me indulge in hot chocolate followed by salty chips from the hot dog stand. Mmhmm.

Awww, what a great group photo! Love this, you guys! I’m glad to hear your love of food (and forgive for saying, loveable wackiness) brought all of you together! I guess that it’s one of those times that good company always, always supersedes good food, doesn’t it? That’s always been my food philosophy anyway, as much as I love to eat. Nothing beats being around the jolly ole company of dear friends. Looking forward to reading the rest of your Melb posts, woo-hoo! =D

Teehee, you don’t need forgiveness! I’ve always been upfront about my wackiness on this blog, and I’m very happy that you see it as lovable rather than plain crazy 😉 And yes, while the food throughout my Melbourne trip was amazing, the company and friendship surpassed it all by many miles 🙂 And thank you, Winston! Can’t wait to share it all 🙂

Teehee, I’ve never been brave enough to try making them! All that business with rolling them up in tea towels then unrolling them then rolling them again… much prefer to let someone else do the work for me 😉

Three sugars in his coffees!!! We well and truly can call him te Candyman, after the house blend beans they use at the Duchess. Hope you enjoyed your brunch there, certainly sounded very exciting, with sugar flying everywhere. 😉

Oh I love The Duchess and their cool (and smartly) named dishes. There’s nothing wrong with having dessert for breakfast! (who’s up for a chocolate crackle with a cuppa?) And I think Adrian’s T-shirt is hilarious. Must get one for one of my little kids to go out and eat with, would be funny don’t you think! 😛

I somehow can’t believe, but then find it totally plausible that you picked the jam roly poly over that luscious looking salmon dish. Another Melbourne cafe I don’t know…. (but then I rarely leave the city when I go).

[…] so it came to pass that after Thai and The Little Mermaid, cake for breakfast with my Sugar Twin, and frozen yoghurt for lunch followed by Pocahontas, my next Melbourne adventure involved Japanese […]

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About

Hannah. Writer, editor, firm believer in socks, gin, laughter, buttered toast, cheesecake, and semicolons. Currently back in Canberra after two years living in Canada; heart tingling to see what happens next.